Competitive // GxG

Chapter 3

My hands were shaky and my breath was ragged. The cruel stage lights shone down on me with little remorse as I was stood in the center of the platform, gazing down at our drama teacher and director, Mr Derigen. His glasses rested on the tip of his wrinkled nose as he smiled for me to begin. The band began to play the accompaniment of 'Hopelessly Devoted' and I took a deep breath. Exhaling all of my nerves.

I left the stage with immense pride in myself, that was the best I'd ever performed the song, hitting each note exactly as I'd rehearsed it. My small heels clicked obnoxiously as I made my way toward the audience, passing by Mr Derigen on the way.

"That was an extraordinary performance Millie, Your dedication is truly paying off." He stated encouragingly and I felt my heart beat quicken. Surely I've got the role in the bag.

The next to grace the stage was senior heartthrob Christopher Lenatillo. He stood in the center of the stage with complete confidence, his demeanor relaxed and focused as he eased into character. Mr Derigen motioned for him to begin and he started to sing "Sandy". His range was magnificent but not nearly as impressive as his attractive features, his eyes were a vibrant blue, speckled with strands of gold and green, his hair pitch black and styled perfectly atop his head.

He was gorgeous.

His audition was met with positive feedback and soon enough it was Ismene's turn. She strutted gracefully toward the stage, her hair bouncing at her shoulders and her lips sporting an effortless smile. She looked so unbelievable natural up there, the lights seeming to accentuate her feminine features rather than smother them as they had with mine. To nobody's surprise she sang the exact same song as me, if I was being completely honest I'd say that she did it slightly better. Her tone sweeter and her facial features more accurate. I could see the impressed glance that Mr Derigen threw her way as she came to the end of the song.

She shot the audience one last smile before speaking to the teacher directly, her tone bleeding false naivity. "Was that. Ok Mr Derigen? I have a sore throat today-" I roll my eyes at such a pathetic statement. It seems that every person has a 'sore throat' when they're singing in front of people.

"That was extraordinary Ismene! Like nothing I'd ever seen before. Your talent is unmatched." Each compliment sliced through me as if I was nothing more than a thin sheet of paper, my heart felt as if it had been slowly crushed at the hands of such a pretentious snob. She basked in his endless affection with a sense of 'humility' if that's what you'd call it. It had become agonizingly clear that I would be playing the Frenchie to Ismene's Sandy, forced to watch her sing all of the songs I'd trained tirelessly on and perform the dance numbers that I've been rehearsing for weeks.

Those thoughts alone were enough to bring tears to my eyes. I stood up as graciously as possible and asked to use the restroom. Mr Derigen waved me off without a second thought, his mind solely focused on the soon to be lead. Ismene shot me a knowing glance, her delicate fingers waving in a mock goodbye.

"You were great too Amelia." She states, eager to rub it in. I send her a polite smile in an effort not to embarrass myself infront of our drama teacher, the smile not faltering until I finally reached the girls bathrooms. I let the tears run down my cheeks as I found an appropriate stall to cry in. I know to alot of people I would look like nothing more than a spoilt brat with terrible priorities and I suppose that's exactly what I am. However, I still felt like absolute garbage, it was as if my whole universe was caving in on itself.

Ismene had only ever joined the theatre scene because our parents wanted us to spend more time with each other. I had been working my ass off for years, spending hours a week at vocal lessons and dance rehearsals and participating in all different community theatre projects. My entire theatrical career had been leading up to being cast as the iconic Sandra Dee and now she's found a way to steal that too. She'd never been to a vocal lesson and had only been in the school theatre department for a little over a year, yet Mr Derigen practically worshipped her just like everyone else did.

After my little cry, I gave one last sniffle and fixed my smudged make up. I was raised with better theatre etiquette than this.

I kept my head up and a pleasant smile on my face as I re-entered the auditorium. I took my place toward the back of the seats, placing my school bag in front of me as I forced myself to watch the remainder of the auditions. There was a considerable amount of candidates this year, many of them just starting out in high school theatre and were destined to be a chorus member for at least the near future. However, there was a number of incredible talents in the younger years, the roles of Patty, Jan and Kenicke will be in incredibly capable hands. My thoughts on Grease's casting were abruptly brought to a halt with the seat next to me becoming occupied. The almost intoxicating scent of mandarin with a slight undertone of lavender told me that it was the very person I wanted nothing to do with.

"I'm sure you'll look fantastic in a pink wig." She states, staring straight ahead with a pleased smirk. "I think you'd be perfect to play a high school drop out with no real aspiration." She adds and I feel my blood boil.

"If we're going to be type casting maybe they should consider you for Patty, I think you'd suit playing an obnoxious student council leader that everybody avoids like the plague." I fire in return, turning my attention back to the auditions.

"Touche." She chuckles and I roll my eyes. "Glad to see you aren't still crying in the bathroom, it's incredible how something so insignificant can have such an effect on you." Ismene now turns to me, her smirk growing and a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"This may come as a surprise to you but I actually do have genuine passions that don't revolve around you. So yes, it may be an insignificant pass time to you but it is incredibly significant to me." She looked taken aback by my lack of argument but I just turned back to the stage.

"How pathetic-" She begins but I turn toward her, giving her my full attention.

"If you are just going to sit here and tell me how shitty I am for enjoying something that I'm good at and have worked hard on then you can just go. We both know that you are getting the part so please, finish off your gloating and sit somewhere else so I can watch the rest of the auditions." I was glad that we were sitting so far behind the director, otherwise there's no telling how much trouble we'd be in for talking. Ismene's eyes widen in surprise, obviously not expecting my calm but direct outburst. She fell silent, her attention turning toward the stage and I followed suit, letting the only sound in the room be the audition song.

It wasn't until the bell for class to resume rang and Mr Derigen announced that he would post the cast list up tomorrow that Ismene spoke again. "I was being cruel, I'm sorry." She mumbles, as if it pained her to apologise to me. I simply nodded, giving her an acknowldeging hum before hurrying to my next class.

Did Ismene Leatorelli just apologise?

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Thoughts???
It's all kicking off an im pretty happy with my plans for this story let me know what you think :)